Organisations can support employee well-being by offering time off, helping to prioritise projects, and delegating some responsibilities to other team members.
By Maggie Mancini
The majority (80%) of Australian workers say they feel burnt out at work, but they are not always upfront with their manager about it, new research from Robert Half finds.
When asked whether they feel burnt out, four in five workers (80%) say they feel “a little burnt out” (57%), “very burnt out” (17%), or “completely burnt out” (6%). The younger the employee, the more likely they are to be burnt out, with 86% of Gen Z workers feeling burnout compared with 81% of millennials and Gen X employees, and 72% of baby boomers.
“Burnout is reaching alarming levels in the Australian workforce,” says Nicole Gorton, director at Robert Half. “The past year has seen a surge in stress, exhaustion and disengagement among employees. The consequences of companies working with lean teams, the pandemic, economic uncertainty, and lack of job security have all contributed to this burnout epidemic.”
When asked about what is contributing the most to their feelings of burnout, workers say their work conditions are playing a larger role than the workplace’s culture or challenges that come with the return to the office, including:
- heavy workloads (56%);
- an insufficient number of staff (36%);
- the commute to the office (27%);
- a toxic company culture (26%); and
- lack of communication and support from managers (21%).
Most (77%) affected workers say they have approached their manager to reveal they feel burnt out and have received support to alleviate their symptoms. The most common steps managers have taken are:
- providing encouragement for staff to take time off (22%);
- helping to prioritise projects (20%);
- delegating some responsibilities to other team members (18%); and
- hiring extra staff to mitigate the workload (16%).
For 10% of workers, however, their manager has not taken any steps to address burnout despite being made aware. Meanwhile, almost a quarter (23%) of workers have not made their manager aware of their feelings.
